The Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority’s (RURA) latest statistics and Tariff Information in Telecom, Media and Postal Service reveal that the number of fixed telephone subscriptions surged by 44.9 percent over the third quarter of 2017 to 12,645 from 6,960 in the second quarter.
The report includes information on mobile telephone, fixed telephone, internet, tariffs (voice and data), traffic, revenues, investment and employment in telecommunication sector, licensed operators in postal and Media sector.
Tigo Rwanda had the largest fixed telephone market share of 75 percent on 30 September 2017, followed by MTN with 15 percent, Liquid Telecom with 10 percent and Airtel Rwanda “almost zero”.
According to the report, the number of mobile phone subscriptions in Rwanda increased by 0.4 percent to 8.70 million.
MTN Rwanda regained its market share dominance during the month, having dropped to within a percentage point of Tigo in October.
MTN controlled 42 percent of the mobile telecom market in November, up from 41 percent the previous month.
Tigo, which was taken over by Bharti Airtel in December, now has 40 percent of all mobile phone users, compared with 41 percent in October.
Presently, Airtel has 18 percent of the total mobile telephony subscriber numbers.
The report indicates that MTN had 3.65 million users in November 2017, up 1.9 percent from 3.58 million clients in October.
Tigo’s subscriber base shrank by 0.5 percent to 3.43 million from 3.45 million in October.
Airtel shed 1.3 percent of its market share to 1.61 million customers, down from 1.63 million in October.
RURA says “This increase is attributed to the various promotions that were conducted by operators during the period under review”.
Rwanda’s mobile telephone penetration rate is currently 75.5 percent at November 30, 2017, or over 8.70 million active mobile telephone users.
